Enter Pitman graduate and former Gloucester County Institute of Technology head coach Ron Myers, who played on Pitman’s state championship teams in 1996-1997 and 1997-1998.

“It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come by very often,” said Myers. “It’s nice to come back where it all started for me and help out the kids in town. I want to keep Pitman basketball going in a good direction.”

Myers was officially announced as the new Pitman boys basketball coach after the Wednesday Pitman Board of Education meeting.

“A big plus about Ron Myers is he has head coaching experience, being at GCIT for the past six years,” said Schramm. “Another nice thing is that he was an adjunct head coach and that’s what he will be here. He has experience being an adjunct coach, which is good because sometimes you have to work around a few things and he has experience making it work.

“But, clearly the most impressive thing is that he is a Pitman product. He is a member of the Pitman Athletic Hall of Fame, which is a very prestigious honor. He is very familiar with everything about Pitman and I think it’s really important that a head coach of Pitman knows about Pitman. Ron Myers is a known product in Pitman, so he was a natural choice.”

Myers leaves behind a GCIT team that he has seen grow in the past six years, going from a team which didn’t win a game its first four years.

View full sizeKevin Smith of GCIT (right) became the first player in GCIT school history to score 1,000 points.File Photo

He led the team to eight wins in 2010, the most in school history, while helping Kevin Smith (2012 graduate) to become the first Cheetah to ever score 1,000 points. Last season, Myers had his second player, Sean Gahagan, score his 1,000th point and pass Smith on the all-time leading scorers list.

The Cheetahs finished with six wins this season, but Myers sees the team growing even more.

“They are a young team with one or two seniors,” said Myers. “But they had the best summer playing-wise since I’ve been there. We lost in the semifinals. They came a long way. They are do everything right.

“When I started there we didn’t win a game. I am proud of what I accomplished at GCIT. Everyone over there is a class act, from the Superintendent Mike Dicken to all three athletic directors that were there in my tenure. It was a tough decision to leave because I enjoyed my team over there, but in the long run, I think it’s a smart move to come back home.

“I met with the GCIT players last Friday to explain it to them. I told them it wasn’t anything they did because they always gave me their maximum effort. I couldn’t ask for a better group of kids. Varsity coaching positions don’t come open very often. Who is to say that the new guy would give it up while I could still coach? I have kids and I want to be able to watch them play, so I would have two options, quit coaching or be their coach.”

GCIT athletic director Mike McAleer, formerly the AD at Pitman, had nothing but good things to say about Myers, who averaged 23 points and 12 rebounds a game during his senior year as a Panther. He ended his 1995-1998 career with 1107.

“Coach Myers did a lot for our program here at GCIT,” said McAleer. “His teams were always well prepared and played hard. It is tough to see him leave, but I can understand why and we wish him nothing but the best at Pitman.”

This season, Pitman will be without much of their starting lineup from last season, losing two Division-l players (Darnell Foreman and Eric Stafford) to college and another (Tim Delaney) to Blair Academy.